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Azure Key Vault VS Vault by HashiCorp

Compare Azure Key Vault VS Vault by HashiCorp and see what are their differences

Azure Key Vault logo Azure Key Vault

Safeguard cryptographic keys and other secrets used by cloud apps and services with Microsoft Azure Key Vault. Try it now.

Vault by HashiCorp logo Vault by HashiCorp

Tool for managing secrets
  • Azure Key Vault Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-11
  • Vault by HashiCorp Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-26

Azure Key Vault features and specs

  • Centralized Management
    Azure Key Vault provides a unified location to manage keys, secrets, and certificates, reducing administrative complexity and improving security.
  • Scalability
    The service scales automatically to handle increased demand, making it suitable for both small applications and large enterprise solutions.
  • High Availability
    Azure Key Vault ensures high availability with automatic replication and geo-redundant storage options.
  • Enhanced Security
    Keys are protected by Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) and access policies can be set to enforce strict controls on who can access the data.
  • Compliance
    Azure Key Vault helps organizations meet various compliance standards (e.g., HIPAA, GDPR) by securely managing and auditing access to keys and secrets.
  • Integration
    Seamlessly integrates with other Azure services, such as Azure Active Directory, Azure Storage, and Azure App Service, to provide end-to-end security solutions.
  • Auditing and Logging
    Offers built-in monitoring and logging features to track access and usage of keys, aiding in accountability and compliance efforts.

Possible disadvantages of Azure Key Vault

  • Cost
    The service can become expensive depending on the volume of keys, secrets, or certificates being managed and the number of operations performed.
  • Complexity
    Integrating Azure Key Vault with existing systems and setting up the appropriate access policies can be complex and time-consuming.
  • Latency
    There might be a small latency introduced when accessing secrets or keys stored in the Key Vault, which could impact performance for some time-sensitive applications.
  • Learning Curve
    Administrators and developers may require training to fully understand and effectively use Azure Key Vault, especially if they are new to Azure services.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Relying on Azure Key Vault ties your key management strategy closely to Microsoft's ecosystem, which could be a concern if you plan to switch cloud providers in the future.
  • Regional Availability
    While Azure Key Vault is available in many regions, it might not be available in all geographic areas, which could limit its use for globally distributed applications.

Vault by HashiCorp features and specs

  • Comprehensive Security
    Vault provides a high level of data security by using end-to-end encryption and secure access protocols, ensuring sensitive data is well-protected.
  • Dynamic Secrets
    Vault allows for dynamic generation of secrets and credentials, reducing the risk of secret sprawl and enabling better lifecycle management.
  • Audit Capabilities
    Vault offers extensive audit logging capabilities, which help organizations monitor access and changes to sensitive data, enhancing compliance and security monitoring.
  • Multi-cloud Support
    Vault supports various cloud providers and infrastructures, making it suitable for multi-cloud and hybrid environments.
  • Access Control
    Fine-grained access control policies can be defined in Vault, enabling precise management of who can access what secrets and under what conditions.

Possible disadvantages of Vault by HashiCorp

  • Complex Setup
    The initial setup and configuration of Vault can be complex, requiring a good understanding of its components and operational requirements.
  • Learning Curve
    Due to its extensive features and capabilities, there is a significant learning curve associated with effectively using Vault.
  • Performance Overhead
    The added security and features can introduce performance overhead, especially in large-scale systems with numerous secrets and transactions.
  • Cost
    While the open-source version is free, the enterprise version with additional features and support can be costly for organizations.
  • Dependency Management
    Organizations might need to adapt their existing systems to integrate Vault, which could involve significant changes and management of additional dependencies.

Azure Key Vault videos

Azure Key Vault Tutorial | Secure secrets, keys and certificates easily

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Azure Key Vault Basics : How to keep ‘secrets’ secret
  • Tutorial - How to securely store and load secrets using Azure Key Vault in .NET Core (using a certificate)

Vault by HashiCorp videos

No Vault by HashiCorp videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Azure Key Vault and Vault by HashiCorp)
Security & Privacy
48 48%
52% 52
Password Management
31 31%
69% 69
Cloud Storage
100 100%
0% 0
Password Managers
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Azure Key Vault should be more popular than Vault by HashiCorp. It has been mentiond 19 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Azure Key Vault mentions (19)

  • Building A URL Shortener With Neon and Azure Serverless Functions
    Next, we create the connection to our database. Replace [YOUR_POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING] with the string you copied from the Neon dashboard. For security reasons, you would likely want to use a service like Azure Key Vault to manage your keys in a production environment, but for now, just placing them in the script will do. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Secrets Management in Kubernetes: Best Practices for Security
    Integration with External Systems Kubernetes External Secrets can integrate with tools like HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, and Google Cloud Secret Manager. For instance, to use HashiCorp Vault:. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Serverless Security Best Practices
    Utilize specialized tools like AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault,  or Azure Key Vault for secrets management in your serverless environments. These tools keep sensitive data out of function code and configurations and bring advanced features to the table:. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Kubernetes Secret Management
    Azure Key Vault is a cloud-based service provided by Microsoft Azure that enables secure storage and management of secrets. It integrates well with Kubernetes, allowing organizations to centralize and control access to secrets within their Azure infrastructure. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • HashiCorp Vault Alternatives
    No Azure Key Vault[0]? Oh #1 is your product? #3 and #4 mention your product being better? It's your company? Shm [0]: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/key-vault/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
View more

Vault by HashiCorp mentions (5)

  • Running the OpenTelemetry Demo App on HashiCorp Nomad
    Before you start, just a friendly reminder that HashiQube by default runs Nomad, Vault, and Consul on Docker. In addition, we’ll be deploying 21 job specs to Nomad. This means that we’ll need a decent amount of CPU and RAM, so Please make sure that you have enough resources allocated in your Docker desktop. For reference, I’m running an M1 Macbook Pro with 8 cores and 32 GB RAM. My Docker Desktop Resource... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Running cron jobs in the cloud — Amazon EC2 vs AWS Lambda
    When running cron jobs on Amazon EC2, you can, for example, use a secrets store like Vault. With Vault, your cron jobs can dynamically get the credentials they need. The secrets don’t get stored on the machine that’s running the cron jobs, and if you change a secret, the cron jobs will automatically receive that change. The downside of implementing a solution like Vault, however, is the overhead of managing the... - Source: dev.to / about 3 years ago
  • How do you document your smart home stuff?
    Vaultproject.io handles secrets management, so dynamic policies deal with database creds etc. "Manual" creds are stored in 1password or lastpass and added manually to Vault if it needs rebuilding. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Whare are your preferred platforms and tools/services for self hosting?
    It's all in the blog series, including sample configuration, but it's vaultproject.io and it allows you to do everything from managing simple secrets to auto-rotation of database credentials or even run your own KPI setup. Source: over 3 years ago
  • How to backup Hashicorp Vault with Raft storage on Kubernetes
    Our team is experimenting with Hashicorp Vault as our new credentials management solution. Thanks to the offical Vault Helm Chart, we are able to get an almost production-ready vault cluster running on our Kubernetes cluster with minimal effort. - Source: dev.to / almost 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Azure Key Vault and Vault by HashiCorp, you can also consider the following products

AWS CloudHSM - Data Security

Doppler - Doppler is the multi-cloud SecretOps Platform developers and security teams trust to provide secrets management at enterprise scale.

Egnyte - Enterprise File Sharing

KeePass - KeePass is an open source password manager. Passwords can be stored in highly-encrypted databases, which can be unlocked with one master password or key file.

OpenSSH - OpenSSH is a free version of the SSH connectivity tools that technical users rely on.

Infisical - Infisical is an open source, end-to-end encrypted platform that lets you securely sync secrets and configs across your engineering team and infrastructure